Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1887-01-11


that over which any one Of the com
Eaniea Individually makes rates. and
fhny are also made under dizrEent cir
cumstanaes and conditions from thoss
which govern and detsrmiue the RATES
made over q single railroad. Ine tuu
Transactions are separate and distinct,
neither being necessarily governed By
che other. FuKthermoEe, the mAkinR Of
Joint through rates b specifically recog-
mixed ~ the bfll in the seetson which
Requires pabliciiy Of rates. and nowhere
IN the bill can anything be found In re
lation to 3 division Of the ioint rats bg
c0nneetinR reads. / an satisfed. there-
fore, that the only construction that is
warranted By The language Of the so.
ticn a that efven il, and that instead Of
recurring q rate 90 Be measured by q
porosntazs Of the through rate watch
the rQnd accepts, or OF requiring
Be 80 aggregation Of local rates over
each road, ~ some have claimed, the
session ~ it stands simply requires that
each Railroad company shall observe
the short haul principle - to It's Own
rates. and shat the same principle shall
also Be observed By . combination OF
railroads ~ 20 joint through rates Be
tseen points upon their roads agreed
upoa By such combination
Mr.. 0earRe obieoted 70 the interrssta
tion put upon the words ''under like
circumstances and conditions By Hr.
Gallon. he did NOT believe that Il vas
the true and leRitimaae Interpretation.
In reply to questions By hr. Aldrloh.
Mr.. Harris, of rennessee, usdert0ok 10
explain aud defend the fourth section
Of the bill. There we're, be said, four
distinct and independent lines Of rail.
road between san Francisco and New
York. These become 0ns line hy CON
pact and agreement between Them II
they charged 800 car from San Fran
cisco 10 New York. that vas the maxi
mum rate which they could Charge from
Ogden 20 New York.
Mr.. Aidrch-Then they could charge
$50 car from Ogden or Omaha or Baf-
falo7
Mr. Harris-Thefe is no reason 10 be
found in this bill Why they may not
charge, from any intermediate pOint, up
10 the maximum Of the through charge,
except that the charge must be reasena-
BILE.
Mr. Stanford argued against the bill.
He aaid that IL tended not only 20 pre-
vent competition by railroads, but lt ex-
hibited tendency 10 foster water ways
to the prejudice Of railroad interests. II
the obi soss we're to enhance water lines
at the expense Of railroads, be did not
know how bill could be framed 70 ser
cure sack an object better than this bill.
Railway business Sas legitimate. There
could be no Justification for deprtvinR
the owners Of railroads Of the oontrcl OF
their property. The bill seemed
90 him clearly in violation Of
the rights OF property and Of
the rights of labor, 10 receive
compensation for seE7ioea performed.
It WAS also q discouragsmen TO that
class Of investment. 10 regard to the
long And short haul section, he argued
that water aud other competition som6
times made it absolutely necessary to
charge more to intermediate stations
than for through business. All over
land lines Of railroad md their rates
very largely controlled and influenced
by routes BY way Of the lstbmus Of Pan
ANA and BY CaOe Horn. Meeting that
competition, and being willing 10 accept
3 small profit where q larger cannot be
bad, they carry along the line between
two extreme points the same character
Of freight &C less rates than the rates II
carried from the east 80 the wests or
from the west 10 the east 20 intermedi
ate places. This vas because OF com
petition Of freight going by water frem
New York 10 San Francisco. Freight
may pass over various lines Of railroad.
making up through line for
perhaps half their regular rates,
say fFom New York TO Buffalo, from
Buffalo 20 CkicaRo, from Chicago TO
Omaha, from Omaha 10 Salt Lake, 30
lie destination on the Pacific Coast.
The pr0fit IL so small it 10 TO be despised-
The business IL done at that rats rather
than not done at all. Take . more.
marked illustration. The Southern Pa
aific road strikes the Atlantic waters at
Q much less distance than any Of tts
more northern competitors. Is has 3
line Of easy gradients comparatively,
and Il oompetes not only With It's north
ern rivals, bat more par iculaFly With
the Cape Horn and the ksthmus OF Pan
ANA routes, because Of its shorter line
and easy gradients. In this competition
il often takee freight bstween she two
oceans as l0W as SO, while Il takes
freight half the way for so q ton, 9
most reasonable rate for the limited
l1eai busiuess Of that country. Nov, II
IL only makes dollar net on
the freight from san Francisco 20
New Ofleaus al SO. u 10 led
20 makeIthat dollar where u can get no
more, bat ton Of freight going 10 II
Paso, somethinR over half the distance.
wiIl pay $50 9 tcn. New, II the freight
at $40 20 Nov Orleans pays vi pfont,
the freight going the less distance 10 u
Raso would pay ae much pront ~ y
tons going through 10 New Orleans, and
the rates charged 10 II Paso are bat
fair as shown by the gross earnings. the
gross expenses Of the road leaving bnt
very narrow net proft. The shorter
distance is not charged any more be-
cAusa Of the less rate fer the longer dis
tancs. Indeed. the leneer distance
helps the railroad company 20 maintain
itself, while without that heip perhaps
they could not do the shorter basiness-
After all this, 70 Congress prepared %
say that small earnings shall be
dsspised, that they shall not BE- secured
when the greater cannot Be hadf Are
they prepared 10 deny 20 individual
shippers and oommauities the beneat
Of their more favorsbis iooation made
90 hecanse OF the geography and topoR.
Faphy Of the country, on oy srtinoisi
meansf
Adjourned.
The ususe.
The Speaker laid befors the Houas =
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